JtHM meets Nightmare before Christmas
by ReadingFox
Summary: Our Favorite Homicidal Maniac meets the daughter of our favorite Pumpkin King. Adventure abounds. Read on for Gore, Luaghs, and a bit of Drama.


JTHM meets Nightmare before Christmas

"Nah nah! Can't catch me Clarice!" Lucille called over her shoulder at her twin sister. Clarice sped up and ran after Lucille, shrieking with glee.

"Don't wander too far you two!" called their older sister Luna. "Mom and dad would kill us if you got lost!" Nick, Luna's older brother by a year, scoffed.

"Chill Luna. They're old enough to go off alone." Luna glared at him.

"They're six Nick." she snapped. "Ah! Look, they've disappeared now!" Luna dashed ahead, muttering about idiot brothers.

That Nick...eighteen years of pure stupidity and arrogance. Just because he was next in line to be the pumpkin king, he thought he could ignore his three sisters. Dad had practically had to force him to take them to the forest today. Just then, Luna spotted Clarice and Lucille standing in a clearing next to a dark mass.

"Clarice! Lucille! What are you doing over here?" Luna called out. Clarice pointed to the dark mass.

"We found a person Luna! He's not moving." Luna ran forward and looked at the mass. It was indeed a person. A very skinny person with nothing more than two antennae-like locks of hair. She set two fingers against the mans neck to check for a pulse. It was weak, but steady. He was missing a boot and his ankle was badly bruised and swollen. Nick burst into the clearing.

"I heard the twins say something about a body!" he said.

"Luna, can we poke him with a stick?" asked Lucille.

"No. I think this guy is hurt. His heart is weak and his breathing is too shallow for my liking. We need to get him to grandpa Finklestein." Luna replied. "Nick, run home and get mom and dad. The twins and I will stay here and try to keep him alive." Nick nodded and took off, his long legs flying across the leaf strewn ground. Clarice tugged Lunas' sleeve.

"Luna, is the funny looking man going to die?" she asked, her little eyes full of fear and worry. Luna smiled and stroked the long red hair the girls had all inherited from their mother.

"Not if we help him Clare-bear. Now hush until daddy gets here." she said kindly. Luna sat down on the ground to wait for their father.

"Hey, lookie!" said Lucille. "He's got big knives in his coat!" reaching down, she pulled them out. They were the oddest knives Luna had ever seen. They had smiley faces on the handles!

"Twisted." Luna whispered, taking the blades from her sister. "Cool, but twisted."

Minutes later, Nick came running up with his father Jack Skellington hot on his heels.

"Luna, what's going on? Nick said something about finding a human in the woods, then dragged me out of work."

"No time dad! Is mom with you?"

"Over here dear." Called Sally Skellington, Luna's mother. Luna quickly explained the mans condition.

"I think he might have fallen down here from the human realm." she said "His pulse is weak, and so is his breathing. I couldn't feel any broken bones, but I don't like the way his ankle is swelling." Sally nodded. Being created by a mad scientist did come with the advantage of learning a lot of medical mumbo jumbo.

"Jack dear, can you carry him back to Halloween town? We need to have father look at him. Luna—what are those?" She pointed at the mans knives. Luna held them up to the dim sunlight and shrugged.

"He was carrying them. I thought it'd be better if he didn't have weapons on him when he woke up." she said. Suddenly, the mans' eyes snapped open. He looked around for a total of three seconds before heaving a sigh.

"Oh wonderful. I died again didn't I?" Luna snickered, but was silenced by a look from her father. Jack cleared his throat importantly.

"Ahem. Welcome stranger. I am Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin king. To answer your question, no, you aren't dead. You're just in another world."

"Hell?"

"No. Halloween town."

"Is that a sub-division of hell?"

"No!" Luna snickered at her father.

"You've got a bit of a hell thing, don't you mister?" she asked. The man turned to her.

"Are you the devil?" he asked. Luna burst out laughing.

"N-no!" she managed to choke out after the laughing had subsided. "My name is Luna Skellington. What's yours?"

"Johnny. Johnny C. Are you sure you aren't the devil?" Luna giggled.

"Yes, I'm sure. Hey, what are you doing?!" She barked as Johnny started to stand.

"What's it look like? I'm getting up." he replied. Luna swiftly grabbed an arm and tried to support his injured side.

"Not with that ankle pal. We're getting you to my grandpa. He's a doctor." she said. Johnny looked repulsed at the contact.

"Could you do that and not touch me?" he asked. "I don't like being touched." Luna shook her head.

"Sorry mister C, but you'll just have to put up with it until we get there." she replied. Johnny complied, albeit reluctantly. Clarice walked on Johnny's other side, staring up at him in fascination. Johnny looked at her.

"Do you need something?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. Clarice merely smiled and walked ahead to hold her mothers hand.

"What was that?" Johnny whispered to Luna.

"She finds you interesting."she replied. "She's never seen a real human before. Not to mention that you looked half dead. She was worried."

"Creepy. Wait, what do you mean they've never seen a human?"

"They're only six. They haven't gone to the human world to scare people yet. It's what we do here."

"Scare people?"

"What part of Halloween town didn't you get? We spend all year trying to think up ways to scare people on Halloween."

"I spend my time thinking up ways to rid the world of incessantly annoying small minded ass ticks."

"Good to know. Now quiet, I need my breath for walking." Johnny was silent as they headed into town toward Doctor Finklestien's tower. The doctors wife, Jewel answered when Jack knocked.

"Jack Skellington!" she twittered. "What a lovely surprise. To what do we owe the honor of this visit?" Jack gestured to Johnny.

"The kids found this human in the forest. We need the doctor to have a look at him." he said. Jewel nodded and gestured them inside. Luna led Johnny to the lab and set him on the exam table. Finklestein came rolling out within minutes.

"Now then." he wheezed. "What is such an emergency that my grandchildren have to call me down from my experiments?"

"Grandpa, we found a funny looking man in the forest!" cried Clarice. "Luna says he got an owwie on his ankle and he needs you to make it all better. But be careful, cause he's got a set of big knifes!" Finklestein looked to Luna for clarification. Clarice was known for jumping ahead of herself when she spoke.

"We found him in the forest, unconscious. I think his ankle's twisted." Luna translated.

"Well, let's take a look." he rolled closer to the exam table. Johnny grinned.

"Nice wheels." he said. "You could run over lots of squirrels with those."

"Most likely. Hmmmm." Finklestein gently poked and prodded, watching Johnny's reactions carefully. "Well the good news is, your ankle's not broken. You were right Luna, it's only a nasty sprain." He said after a few moments.

"Then what's the bad news Gramps?" asked Nick.

"The bad news Nicholas, is that this young man will be unable to walk on that leg for about three months."

"Why so long Grandpa?" asked Lucille.

"Because, my little flower, this young man's bone structure is very, very frail. If he tried to walk too much on it, it would create a spiral fracture that would leave him crippled." Finklestein replied, ruffling Lucille's hair gently. "We'll just keep it wrapped up tight and have him on crutches for a while. He'll be fine."

"Wait, if he's half a cripple for three months, how's he gonna get back to the living realm?" asked Nick, his eyes nervous. "What are we going to do with him? Who's gonna take care of him?"

"Relax Nick." said Luna. "You won't have to lift a princely finger in his general direction. I'll keep an eye on him."

"What?! No fair!" yelled Lucille

"Yeah!" Clarice chimed in. "We found him. He's ours!" Luna looked down at the twins.

"Okay, First off; he's not _yours_. He's a human who got lost in our world, not a lost puppy that you can beg Mom and Dad to keep. Secondly, you're only six years old. He is a...wait, how old are you?" Luna looked at Johnny.

"Y'know, I'm not sure of that myself. Early twenties I think."

"Right. He's a twenty something guy. A really skinny guy, but he could still cause you some major damage if he got out of control. I, on the other hand, am a 17 year old girl who could kick his scrawny butt up between his shoulders if he tried anything."

"But that's not faaair!!!" whined Clarice, stomping her foot.

"Neither is life. End of discussion." Luna snapped, turning her back. Clarice pouted was and gearing herself up for a full on tantrum when Sally intervened.

"What Luna means dear, is that this young man needs help from older people. I'm sure you can help in other ways though. Right Luna?"

"Whatever." Luna sighed. She really didn't want to deal with her sisters right now. "Okay, so where is he gonna stay? We don't have any room at home." she asked.

"Well, Sally's old room is still empty he can stay there." said Finklestein. "I don't mind as long as he doesn't mess with my experiments."

"Great! Now that Freaky McSkinny is taken care of, let's go." said Nick, turning on his heel and walking out. He was halfway out the door when he felt something connect with the back of his head. It was Luna's shoe. He glared at his sister.

"What the hell'd you do that for?" he snapped. Luna glared back and snarled furiously.

"Take. That. Back!" she growled.

"Take what back?"

"What you said about Johnny. Take it back." Luna stood on one leg and whipped off her other shoe.

"Why should I? He's a skinny weirdo!" Nick snapped back. Luna chucked her shoe hard towards Nicks head. He ducked out of the way only to find his sister tackling and pummeling him with her fists. Jack quickly wrenched his two oldest offspring apart and held them tightly.

"Enough of this, both of you!" he barked. "Luna, what has gotten into you?" Luna kicked, writhed and struggled against her fathers hold, then went limp.

"Forget it!" she said quietly. "If you don't know, then it's not worth telling you." Before Jack even knew she'd done it, Luna had escaped his grip and walked over to the exam table.

"Here, I'll wrap your foot up for you." she had told Johnny, her voice barely above a whisper. Johnny had sat quietly while she worked and had gone up the long spiraling ramp without complaint. Jack turned to his wife.

"Sally, can you take the twins home? I want to talk to Nick alone." Sally nodded and shepherded her youngest out of the lab.

"Thank you for your help Doctor." he said to Finklestein. "Please excuse us." Still keeping a tight grip on his son, he walked out the door and far away.

"Um, Dad? Home's the other way." Nick said, trying to keep up with his fathers long strides.

"I know." Jack said curtly. "We need to talk." he marched them both into the forest and once out of sight and sound, he released Nick.

"Now." he said. "I want to know why you riled your sister like that."

"What, is everyone going to gang up on me for that?! I call the guy something and suddenly I'm getting interrogated and having shoes thrown at me!"

"It was rude Nick."

"Your point?"

"Excuse me?" said Jack, arching a brow bone. Nick gulped, knowing he'd overstepped a boundary. Crowned prince or not, you never spoke to the Pumpkin king like that.

"W-well...." he stammered. "I just don't see why we should be nice to a human. I mean, our lives revolve around scaring them to death, so why bother?"

"Because you know the laws as well as I do: When your holiday is over and a human is in need, help them to the best of your ability."

"That's a stupid law." snapped Nick.

"Think so? Tough." Jack snapped back, losing his temper with his son. "Now, you're going home. And when Luna gets back, you're going to apologize to her. Am I clear?" Nick stuck his fists in his pockets, his black hair falling into his eyes.

"I said, Am I clear Nicholas?" Jack repeated. Nick looked up, his eyes rebellious and angry.

"Yeah. You're clear Dad." he said, spitting out every word like poison.

"Good. Now get on home. I still have work to do." Nick turned and walked away, his eyes blazing. Jack waited for a minute or so, then followed with a weary sigh.

"Kids..." he muttered. "I'll never understand them."


End file.
